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Monday, December 16, 2013

The Moment is More Important than the Plot

“Japanese submarine slammed two
torpedoes into our side, Chief. We was comin' back from the island of
Tinian to Leyte... just delivered the bomb. The Hiroshima bomb.
Eleven hundred men went into the water. Vessel went down in twelve
minutes. Didn't see the first shark for about a half an hour.” —Robert Shaw, Jaws.

Dialogue is something many writers seem
to struggle with, published and otherwise. I'm not sure, but I think
a big reason for this is because they are caught up in trying to get
to the story.

Story in this sense really means the
plot. When a writer is trying to move events along from plot point
to plot point, however exciting those moments may seem, the dialogue
suffers, characters suffers, story suffers. You end up rushing
through moments you ought to let linger. You cut short exchanges you
ought to let play out more naturally. The word play is
crucial here. You must allow yourself to play. That's when you make
the most exciting discoveries in your writing, when you're carrying
on without a fixed point as your goal and instead dance along the
page.

There is an arrogance to writing that
all writers deal with. We assume we know what we're doing. We get
it in our heads that once we figure out a story, that
settles it, and all that remains is to write the thing. We know
where we're going and all we have to do is to draw a straight line
from here to there. This is an uncompromising lie. You are not
embarking upon the composition of a menu. This is not a bullet
pointed itinerary you are writing, it's a story. Stories meander.
They sway and curve and crash, and we don't know for sure which
one they'll do next. That is what makes them exciting. Don't get
bogged down in moving things along.

Write a while. Look around. What
interests you? What little, idiosyncratic detail would pass by
unnoticed by anyone else? Write about it.

Lend this sensibility to your
characters. Let them talk to each other. Let them speak for
themselves. We want to get to know them. Never mind where the
conversation is going. It's right now we're all interested in. The
moment is more important than the plot. Don't force words into your
characters mouths for your convenience. If anything rings untrue to
a character's emotional ark, strike it out. I've written about this
before in the context of honesty.
Know you can always cut out whatever doesn't inspire.

Need models to set your stock by?
Allow your favorite movies and series to furnish them. Listen for
when you are the most intrigued. When you are reading, note when the
dialogue pulls you into the story. Reflect on how your friends talk
to one another. Steal conversations from the cafe. Pay
attention. Listen.

Some of my recommendations for great
dialogue include anything by Steven Brust, the Hawkeye comics
by Matt Fraction, and The Owl Service by Alan Garner. Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlow
stories are also competent, and good examples of how sometimes
people say things that don’t make a lot of sense but you don’t
always have a good chance to ask them to clarify, or it just isn’t
worth it.

What’s some of the best dialogue
you’ve come across in your reading or otherwise?